


you make me seem normal (and that's saying something)

by gundumbie



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 2000 line are best friends, 3racha own a cafe, Aesthetics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Gay Panic, Hurt/Comfort, Kim Seungmin is Whipped, Kim Seungmin-centric, Lee Minho | Lee Know is Whipped, Lots of Cursing, M/M, Minho is trying, Photography, Photography Students Lee Minho | Lee Know and Kim Seungmin, Seungmin is smart, Sexual Humor, Texting, What more can I say, Wingmen Stray Kids, seungmin is a nerd and minho has a goth thing going on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26557210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gundumbie/pseuds/gundumbie
Summary: Seungmin rubbed his temples and pulled his food in opposite directions with his fork and knife, watching it come apart. "We literally just met, and you guys are treating it like we’re even gonna talk to each other after this project.”Jeongin hummed absentmindedly, scrolling through his phone. “We’re just trying to help you get laid, hyung."
Relationships: Bang Chan/Han Jisung | Han/Seo Changbin, Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 13
Kudos: 56
Collections: Seungmin-Centric Ficfest





	you make me seem normal (and that's saying something)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Minho and Seungmin are paired up for a presentation in a class Seungmin excels in while Minho is barely passing it. They hate each other at first sight, but as they work on the project their opinions change.

Seungmin should’ve known that he was fucked over the very moment he entered that classroom.

For one thing, his usual seat was taken. Who even changes their seat in the middle of the semester? Apparently only those who wanted to mess with Seungmin, but he just pursed his lips and walked away. That wasn’t it though; the only spot left open was near the front, where he'd inevitably feel everyone staring at him (even though they definitely weren’t). He took another sweep of the room, but unfortunately, nothing had changed since he’d checked just a second ago.

Seungmin dumped his shit on the desk unceremoniously to convey his rage. No one gave him a second glance, too wrapped up in their own four hours of sleep and inability to study to pay attention to him. Seungmin didn’t blame them, and he definitely wasn’t faring much better.

That morning, his mom had decided to drive the car to work, leaving Seungmin to take the bus. That wouldn't have been a big deal on its own, but he had overslept and missed his stop entirely, reduced to watching the bus pull away. With two slices of toast sitting like lead in his stomach, Seungmin had run all the way to school, one arm through his coat and the other fumbling with his hair. It wasn't like he could’ve called his mom to pick him up- he hadn’t felt like being murdered in cold blood, regardless of how difficult of a morning it had been. So, regretting his choice of old Van's with no socks and ruing the day he applied for college, he stumbled his way down the sidewalk and to his campus. 

By some miracle, he’d made it in time, but Seungmin was then forced to go through a day wanting to hit himself in the head with his textbooks. Glaring holes into the fake wood of his desk and ignoring those urges, Seungmin opened his old Macbook. The corner of the keyboard, which he had at one point or another probably stepped on, was dislodged, and the corners of the screen were cracked, but Seungmin didn’t bother asking for a new laptop. He pushed the protruding keyboard back down with an angry _click_ and pulled up Google Docs to take some notes. Regardless of how much he hated note taking, Seungmin didn’t really mind, because he was in a class purely focused on photography.

Photography which Seungmin had loved ever since age 4, when he had taken his toy cell phone and "took a picture" of his sister, squealing, "Look how ugly you are, noona!” Right in her face. It had ended up with him being tackled to the ground and nearly suffocated, but he was grateful for it anyways. His newfound hobby had supplied him an outlet for stress from classes which felt like constant busywork. With photography, he could be outside and spend time analyzing lighting, looking at flowers, and finding cool bugs (although he refused to get close to them). He could run a shitty Tumblr blog and post his assignments, and get his mom off his back about going outside.

There were so many secret spots he had found where there were no big crowds, no honking horns or vaping teenagers, just the sort of emptiness and quiet he could take a good picture in. The kinds of places he would look at and think obnoxiously sweet thoughts about cute cottagecore boys. They turned him into a sappy mess, and they were _his,_ which was one of the many reasons he had never shared them with anybody- not even his closest friends.

Seungmin always put a lot of effort into his work and it felt amazing to see people loving them. He wasn’t the biggest photography blog on Tumblr, far from it. But he had online friends, and people who would like every one of his posts and leave comments. The assignments in his class were a little constricting creativity-wise, but Seungmin didn't really mind, because at the end of the day, he got to take pictures and upload them, and relish in the happy chills he got afterwards.

Group projects were another story, however. Seungmin wasn't exactly known for his _sparkling_ personality. Most of the time, he would take all the important parts of the work, give his partner something or other to do, and ditch them entirely, leaving them on their own for the duration of the project. There were many times that strategy didn't work out for him and left him stressed within an inch of his life, but he kept doing it anyways. His groupmates certainly never complained.

But on that day, a higher power must’ve heard his thoughts and made it their personal goal to fuck Seungmin up.

The professor suddenly walked in (late as per usual), already too cheerful for anyone's tastes. His loafers rapped against the floor as he spun and collapsed in his desk chair. "Hello, kids, I hope you're ready for more torture!"

As usual, no one responded, but he remained undeterred. He put his hands together with a loud clap. "Because! We have! A group project!" Some students groaned while others cast not-too-subtle glances at one another. Seungmin’s lips tightened minutely, but he remained staring ahead. 

The professor wiggled his mouse, struggling with how to present ( _can't he just Chromecast? How is it that hard,_ Seungmin mused to himself) before finally pulling up a form. There were rows and rows of names, and, knowing what was coming, Seungmin grimaced. "These are your partners" -the professor continued speaking over the sudden influx of noise- "please find a seat with them before I continue with the instructions." Many a pair of friends stared longingly at each other before trudging away as if off to war. Seungmin just scanned the list, praying for someone tolerable. _Maybe Seulgi, or Mino, or Jaebeom-_

But no, the fates once again took his feeble hopes and threw them down numerous flights of stairs. 'Kim Seungmin and Lee Minho', the board read. His partner was someone he'd never even heard of, which meant one of two things: one, he was average, or two: he was a quiet kid. Neither were the greatest possible circumstances, but they were better than someone totally awful. Seungmin reluctantly went to join the queue of people lined up at their professor's desk.

There wasn’t anyone he was close with in front of him, so Seungmin allowed himself to zone out without feeling guilty. A chip in the wall to the right of the professor caught his attention, and he stared, watching it go blurry. He’d always had the ability to make the world go quiet around him. Staring into space, heavily disturbing his relatives and concerning his friends. It was at least useful in moments like these, when the last thing Seungmin wanted to do was be connected to reality.

He filled his head with whatever came into it, and soon enough, he was at the front of the line. Seungmin approached the desk with his hands folded in front of him, eyes flitting around nervously. "Lee Minho, sir?" He asked, gaze finally coming to rest on the same chip in the wall. The professor grimaced. 

"Dear Seungmin," Mr. Jung sighed, "luck is not on your side today. Minho-ssi's in... the back row, to the left of the door." Dumbly, Seungmin nodded and spun around.

 _Luck not on my side? What does that even mean?... Is he allowed to say stuff like that?_ He mused, scanning the seats in front of him. By the door, there was a group of two girls and one lone boy, so he assumed Mr. Jung had meant his left. Ducking his head, Seungmin scaled the ramp leading to the entrance of the classroom.

The closer he got, the more details of the boy soon to be his partner appeared. He was handsome- sharp, angular features, and lacking the acne so many other students (including Seungmin) had. His chin was perched on his hand as he scrolled through his phone, not even having tried going to the front of the class.

Because of that, the main thought that ran through Seungmin's head was, _yeah, this guy's a dick_ . He wore a black hoodie with some obscure band logo and dangling earrings- what was Seungmin supposed to think? The phrase "e-boy" also stuck out, but was quickly dismissed by the _Sailor Moon_ manga on his desk. _Who the hell is this guy?_ He wondered, eyebrows furrowing and dislodging his glasses from the crook of his nose.

Reluctantly, Seungmin approached and tapped on his desk. "Are you Lee Minho?" He asked, fiddling with his hands. The boy squinted at him and pushed his chair back.

"Yeah, that's me," he hummed, "and you're Kim Seungmin." Minho raked his eyes up and down his body, and Seungmin had to resist the prominent urge to burrow further into his hoodie. "I like your glasses." Minho smiled brightly, and maybe someone else would've melted, but Seungmin was well-versed in the art of bullshitting.

"Let me through, I need to sit next to you." He responded instead, shifting his stuff in his arms. Minho raised an eyebrow but stood up, moving aside. Seungmin angled his hips away from him and scooted past, taking the seat to the right of his.

Minho went back to leaning precariously in his chair, and Seungmin glared at his computer screen. They sat in silence- not necessarily angry, but more so awkward. To Seungmin, it felt uncomfortable, but when he shot Minho a glance, he seemed unaffected.

Just as the quiet was getting a little unbearable, Mr. Jung cleared his throat. "Class!" He shouted, waiting for the crowd of people to stop talking. Minho flexed his toes, and his chair squeaked against the floorboards. Seungmin clenched his teeth, running his tongue over the back of his retainer. Habitually, he ran it through the wiring on the roof of his mouth, still peeking at Minho out of the corner of his eye.

"For this project, you have to capture something meaningful to you," the professor droned, gesticulating randomly to keep their attention. "The rubric is uploaded to Classroom, so just follow those guidelines. Please discuss with your partners now!" Seungmin let his mouth fall open. _That's it?_ He just had to say some meaningful crap, slap on a picture, and be done with it?

Minho cleared his throat, barely heard over the chatter of the class, and Seungmin turned to look at him. "So, what're we gonna do for the project?" Minho asked, yawning. Seungmin hummed and opened up Google Classroom to check the rubric. Surprisingly, he could actually access it; his professor hadn’t forgotten to post yet another material.

"Well, I could take a picture at one of my favorite places, and you could write the explanation," he said absently, clicking on the new assignment, "that way you'll have something to do." There was no response, so he looked up, confusedly. Minho's face was shriveled in offence, and his lips were pursed tightly. Seungmin cocked his head to the side.

"Listen, dude" -Minho turned his phone off and set it on the desk- "no matter how much of a nerd you are, I'm not letting you treat me like a dumbass. We're gonna take the fucking picture together, like it or not." Seungmin sputtered in disbelief.

"That's not what I meant!" He defended. Usually, no one cared if Seungmin treated them like they were stupid as long as they got less work to do. And, judging from the way Mr. Jung talked about him, Seungmin had assumed Minho was lazy. _Sue him._

Minho huffed and drummed his pitch black fingernails on the table. "Oh, yeah?" He provoked, looking fed up. "Then what _did_ you mean?"

Seungmin narrowed his eyes. “I just didn’t want you to have as much work! Why is it even such a big deal?” Minho didn’t flinch- he rolled his eyes and leaned his face into his hand again. It made his cheek squish his face, Seungmin noted.

“Frankly, Kim Seungmin” -Minho suddenly grinned- “just because I’m hot doesn’t mean I’m stupid.” Seungmin recoiled in shock. The sudden shift of tone gave him whiplash. 

“What the fuck?” Seungmin’s mouth functioned without the permission of his brain, which had flown into panic mode. Minho just winked and laughed at him, slamming a hand on the table. He leaned over to poke Seungmin’s face.

“You got so red, you should’ve seen yourself. I was kidding, dude” -his smile dropped abruptly- “but not about the stupid thing. We’re gonna do the fucking picture together.” Seungmin bunched his eyebrows up in confusion. Minho was weird; he flipped between extremes like it was the easiest thing in the world. Seungmin’s head spun just trying to keep up, much less participate in the conversation.

Having given up, he slid his number over to Minho. "Text me," he grunted, not making eye contact, "and we'll talk about the assignment." The bell rang.

Without looking back, Seungmin hauled ass out of that classroom.

____

Felix cackled, leaning into the back of his chair. "You're telling me you have your own enemies to lovers AU and you're _complaining_ about it?" Across the table, Jeongin snorted. Seungmin cast a glance around the lunch hall, bright red.

"Shut up!" He chided. "He's weird as fuck!" His fork hit the surface of his plate as he took his frustrations out on his chicken. Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Felix didn't look all too sympathetic. They seemed an awful lot like they were holding in laughter. _Fuck friends,_ Seungmin thought as he shoved a bit too much food in his mouth.

Hyunjin brushed a hand through his bangs and took a bite of his pizza. "You know what I think, Seungminnie?" He garbled, mouth full of extra cheese. "I think this dude has some sorta complex, and you just gotta kiss and make up." Jeongin grimaced and Seungmin gagged. Hyunjin remained unapologetic.

"The dude's right, albeit talking with his mouth full." Felix said, leaning on the table and pointing at Seungmin with his fork lazily. "From what I hear, you hate this dude for no reason other than that he's a hot e-boy." Hyunjin nodded solemnly. "Sexual tension," Felix elaborated, like he hadn't already embarrassed the shit out of his friend.

Seungmin rubbed his temples and pulled his food in opposite directions with his fork and knife, watching it come apart. "We literally just met, and you guys are treating it like we’re even gonna talk to each other after this project.”

Jeongin hummed absentmindedly, scrolling through his phone. “We’re just trying to help you get laid, hyung.” 

"Not you too, Innie," Seungmin mourned, because _the only sane one had been ruined!_ Jeongin shrugged and looked up to give him a toothy grin, effectively ruining Seungmin's plans of being pissed at him. Seungmin let a breath of air leave his lips as he wondered why he had ever thought to ask the chaos trio for advice.

As if summoned by the mere thought of chaos, a voice erupted from behind him. "What's up, fellas!" Jisung whooped, slinging an arm around Seungmin. His other hand balanced his plate topped off with pasta and cheesecake. The sauce was bleeding into the cake, turning the frosting red. Seungmin grimaced at the sight and pulled away from Jisung’s clutches.

Jisung collapsed into the seat next to Hyunjin, letting his plate clatter down in front of him. Felix suddenly grinned demonically, and just as Seungmin was about to lunge for his neck, he spoke up. "Jisungie, Minnie's having some boy problems." Jeongin smiled around his spoonful of tomato soup.

Jisung gasped dramatically and clutched at his heart, eyes growing wide. Seungmin glowered at Felix, who seemed to be having the time of his life. "My dear Minnie," Jisung sang, attempting to grab his hands (and failing), "I went through the same thing. Tell hyungie how he can help and he'll do it!"

Seungmin let his face fall on the table. Hyunjin took over, eyes lit up conspiratorially. “He met this guy in photography and thought he was cute, but ended up pissing him off.” Jisung nodded in understanding and stroked his chin with an uncharacteristic graveness.

“Oh my god, stop taking this seriously, I’m not dating him!”

“Listen, Seungmin,” Jisung tapped the back of his head, “someone has to make moves here, because we all know you have no balls.” Speaking over Seungmin’s protests, Jisung turned to the others. “What’s his name?”

“Lee Minho,” Hyunjin answered, snorting at the cries of Seungmin’s pain. They all knew he had the full ability to get them to shut up if he really wanted them to, and he hadn’t. That only further convinced them they had to do something. The Wingman Squad had to assemble.

Jisung gasped out, “The bitch!” Seungmin muttered his agreement, but the rest of them just stared, confused. “I just saw him in choir and he didn’t say anything about that!” Cue the “ooh”s.

“Of course he wouldn’t talk about me!” Seungmin groaned. “We’re literally just partners in photography!”

“But we usually _talk_ about cute guys _._ So obviously Minho-ssi has something to hide…”

“ _Or,”_ Seungmin deadpanned, “he just doesn’t find me cute and understands that I’m just some random classmate.” Felix laid the back of his hand against his forehead, collapsing onto Hyunjin’s shoulder.

“Please, Lord, tell me that Kim Seungmin did not just say that he wasn’t cute!” Hyunjin patted Felix’s hair comfortingly. 

Seungmin raised an eyebrow and gestured to all of him- acne, glasses, hoodie and all. He didn’t have to say anything, because he’d thought it was self-explanatory, but apparently not, judging by the baby carrot that had hit him straight in the face. He glared up at the perpetrator, who puffed his cheeks out. “You are a fucking catch, hyung, your nerd aesthetic is cute!” Jeongin shouted defensively.

The rest of them nodded in solemn agreement. Seungmin sighed and gave up, his cheeks warm. “Fine. But I’m still not gonna date Lee Minho. He probably wants to murder me.” 

“If he murders you, I’ll rip his hamstrings out and feed them to those stupid cats of his.”

“Jisung!” Felix yelped, hitting him in the shoulder. He turned to Seungmin, a wide smile taking up his face as he continued to hit Jisung. “What he _meant_ to say is that we will professionally coach you on how to get the boy not to despise you.”

“Yeah, right.” Seungmin rolled his eyes. “But if it gets you to fuck off, I’ll play along.” 

Jisung, Felix, Hyunjin and Jeongin celebrated like they had won the Olympics- or something they’d actually like… like they’d won a round of Smash that they’d forced him to play. “I will take this task to the utmost sincerity, Sir,” Jeongin mocked. Seungmin snorted and flung the same baby carrot he’d been hit with back across the table, relishing in the chaos that ensued.

  
  


___

That night, Seungmin tried his hardest to sleep (contrary to what his mom may have said), but just couldn’t get there. Words were rolling around in his head like those machines they used to pick bingo numbers. Seungmin sighed and rolled onto his back, unlocking his phone again for what seemed like the millionth time. Unfortunately, it looked the same as the last time he’d checked, and didn’t administer any magic drug to knock him out. 

Resigning himself to his fate of never sleeping again, he opened his messages and typed, with sluggish fingers, “can’t sleep” into the group chat. _Knowing them, they’ll probably be awake anyways. They’re just as unhealthy as me._

But as Seungmin waited and waited with no buzzing from his phone, he started to think he’d been wrong. He picked his phone back up and went back into his messages. No, there weren’t any messages from the group chat. But there was another- one he’d muted

**Lee Minho**

okay and?? me too but whyd you text me

Fuck. He was wide awake now, cursing the day he’d decided to just keep on existing. It was obviously a bad choice, because here he was, having sleepily texted a hot boy who was also an asshole. His previous texts with him, that’d he’d received in trigonometry, flashed tauntingly at him from above his accidental message.

**You**

shit sorry didnt mean to text you just ignore that

Seungmin groaned and pressed his hands to his feverish cheeks. He was the world’s stupidest human being. He was a fool, a clown, a moron- his screen lit up with another notification.

**Lee Minho**

sure

you wanna talk though

**You**

???

The same thing was running through Seungmin’s head. _Why would Minho want to talk with me?_ His sleep-muddled brain was almost fully malfunctioning.

**Lee Minho**

im sorry for being bitchy in photog people just always think im stupid because of the aesthetic or whatever

Seungmin flinched. Yeah, he could see why that would be annoying. Even Seungmin, with no room to judge by appearances, had thought Minho was a stupid dick upon first meeting him. Minho probably didn’t need to hear that little detail, though.

**You**

thats ok i guess i shouldntve said that shit 

why shuold i talk to you though ??

It had come off ruder than he’d intended, but the point still stood. Minho probably had plenty of interesting people to text, and Seungmin probably wouldn’t have made it into the top ten. He wasn’t exactly popular, or cute, or anything hot boys liked to associate themselves with.

**Lee Minho**

_because you texted me first_

_Touché, Minho._

**You**

you could just stop talking to me though

Seungmin let a little smile flit across his face at the fact that he and Minho were talking like civilized humans- for the most part.

**Lee Minho**

true

After waiting a while and realizing no follow-up text would come, Seungmin began to type again, exasperatedly.

**You**

okay then 

i like ur emo aesthetic btw

It was a little dangerous; straying from the aura of snarky comebacks they’d made, but Seungmin pressed send anyways. He waited with bated breath.

**Lee Minho**

thanks, i like ur soft boy aesthetic

**You**

EXCUSE YOU

i am NOT a soft boy

Seungmin wondered if being a soft boy was a good thing or not. He hoped it was.

**Lee Minho**

whatever helps you sleep at night

speaking of which, why arent you sleeping in the first place

_Smooth transition,_ Seungmin mentally applauded. He waited a little while to text back- he didn’t want Minho to think he was getting too fond of him. Or maybe he cared about what Minho thought of him a bit too much.

**You**

too many youtube videos, so little time

Minho, on the other hand, began typing almost immediately. Seungmin grinned proudly.

**Lee Minho**

felt that

do u play kartrider

_How very “Minho” of him._

**You**

ofc

**Lee Minho**

friend me and ill kick ur ass

@pu$$yrestorer

Seungmin choked, giggling as he typed out a response with drooping eyes.

**You**

alsdnlskn whats up with that

He had to redo the keysmash a couple of times, but was still looking at their messages with rapt attention.

**Lee Minho**

its a tribute to my cats

stop asking questions and req me

Seungmin closed the app and opened KartRider, quickly shooting Minho a request before closing it again.

**You**

done

**Lee Minho**

cool, lame username though mr. kseung00

He was starting to grow more and more used to Minho’s snide remarks.

**You**

stfu, start up a game

Seungmin switched tabs to KartRider, waited for Minho to start a game, and joined him. He was still tired, but kept smiling as he cursed out both Minho and the entire development team enthusiastically.

____

As Seungmin woke up to the lack of that same-old wind chime alarm, he’d never been more thankful for weekends. He stared at the ceiling for a while before getting himself up to sit up straight. He reached his arms up above his head and tensed, stretching. His elbows and knees gave satisfying pops, having been locked in place from the way he slept curled up. His mom always said that was the reason he had back problems, but Seungmin refused to blame anything but the fully packed backpack he had to lug around almost every day.

Massaging the back of his neck, he slowly came to remember the previous night. With slightly shaking hands he picked up his phone and saw Minho and his previous messages, along with a couple new ones.

**Lee Minho**

did u fall asleep bitch

i assume that’s a yes

okay goodnight i hope you get better at kartrider by tomorrow morning

Seungmin rolled his eyes. He’d lost the majority of the time, sure, but that was a breach of pride.

_Today, 12:03 p.m._

**You**

first of all rude

second of all i just realized we didn’t even start talking about the project lmao

**_Lee Minho is calling you…_ **

“Fuck!” Seungmin nearly dropped his phone, but tossed it between his hands a couple of times and recovered it. They shook even more as he answered the call and held it up to his ear. “Why’d you call me?” His voice miraculously came out steady, like he wasn’t dying of panic.

“I’m tired and don’t want to type,” Minho drawled, voice grainy where it poured from the receiver. 

“You just woke up?” Seungmin asked, fixing his pillows behind him and tapping his fingers on his leg. He didn’t really mind talking on the phone- when it was with fun people, he could spend hours talking. _And_ , he thought to himself, _Minho’s funny. And nice._

“So did you, so don’t” -Minho yawned- “don’t lie to my face. Or my voice.” Seungmin giggled. He brushed a hair through his unruly bangs, tapping his cheek soothingly. _Don’t mess this up, Kim Seungmin._

“So, I don’t really know where we’re gonna take the pictures,” he said sheepishly, changing the topic. He’d seen Minho’s photos before, and, unsurprisingly, most were of his cats. Judging by the rubric, it had to be something both of them considered important- and although they were definitely cute, Seungmin wasn’t particularly attached to Minho’s pets.

“Well, where do you usually take them?” Minho asked.

Seungmin paused at that. For some reason, he was really reluctant to let Minho into that place- the one so personal to him. For one thing, they were basically strangers, and for another, Minho was a _hot_ basically-stranger. They’d already stayed up all night playing games and talking, and Seungmin really didn’t know how he’d handle getting much closer.

“Seungmin?”

“Sorry, yeah, I know some places we can go,” he finally answered, defeated. _It won’t be that big of a deal,_ he told himself. But Minho laughed, and he could feel his resolve wavering. It was a deep-throated chuckle that tapered into a giggle and was interrupted with deep intakes of breath, one that shone even heard through Seungmin’s century-old Samsung.

“You’re an awkward son of a bitch, Seungmin.” Minho said. Matter-of-fact, as he had been thus far. Seungmin stared up at his ceiling and smiled.

“Yeah, I am.”

“At least you’re honest. Anywho, what’re the esteemed Kim Seungmin’s photoshoot locations like?” Minho’s voice was dripping with sarcasm, bleeding through the line with a curtness only he could pull off.

“They’re nothing much,” Seungmin stuttered out, caught off-guard.

“Yeah, sure. So are we doing this tomorrow?”

Seungmin nodded, before realizing he was a phone call. He slapped himself lightly across the face, hopefully quiet enough for Minho not to hear. “Sounds good.” He choked out.

There was an intermission during which Seungmin worried they’d have to endure another awkward silence. Instead, he heard someone yell at the top of their lungs from far away on Minho’s end. “I’m _coming,_ Mom!” Minho turned away from the receiver to scream, but Seungmin still felt his ears ring. “Sorry Seungmin, duty calls. Talk to you some other time?”  
  
“Uh- yeah.” Seungmin said dumbly. He pulled the phone away from the side of his face and stared at the sudden, blinking “call ended” screen. His phone fell from his hand as he once again flopped onto his bed, starfish-pose. _What the hell is happening?_

Seungmin wasn’t used to, much less well-equipped to deal with change. Not even change that came in the form of a cute guy. He frowned at the thought and curled up into a teenage boy-sized ball of sorrow, default “wallowing pose”, according to his friends and family.

Kim Seungmin didn’t get crushes. Not even fleeting attractions. He’d dated Jeongin, sure, but that was something they _definitely_ didn’t talk about. It had been even scarier than his situation with Minho. So, it was suitable to say he was scared.

Scared to commit, scared to come out of his self-imposed romantic strike. Minho was flirty, and Seungmin wasn’t sure whether with just him or everyone. He pursed his lips and buried his eyes in his knees, letting them push against his temples. 

There was a soft knock at his bedroom door, but Seungmin stayed silent. A few seconds went by of only his muffled breathing until there was another, louder one. He still ignored it in favor of counting down the seconds until they barged in.

“Kim Seungmin, I’m coming in there!” A voice shouted, and his door swung open. It smacked painfully against his bedroom wall. _Ten seconds, right on the money,_ Seungmin mused to himself. His sibling threw the covers off of him, revealing his pitiful form.

Seungmin whined and mumbled something incomprehensible. Eunjae, his sibling, tapped his shoulder. “You good? I came up here to make you eat.” Ey said, and when greeted with his silence, tacked on, “Tell me what’s wrong, get your ass up, or I’m getting Mom.”

Groaning, he peeked out of the junction of his elbow. “Fuck off.”  
  
Eunjae raised an eyebrow (the one with the piercing in it) and crossed eir arms. “Would you rather just tell me or deal with Mom?” Upon thinking about this, Seungmin reluctantly made room for em on his bed, pushing himself up against the headboard. He loved his mother to death, but her conflict resolution skills were subpar. Not to mention he still felt unbearably awkward talking about boys with her.

Besides, Eunjae had had his back innumerable times, helping him come out as gay and telling him ey were nonbinary before ey told anyone else. Although they pretended to hate each other, (and sometimes didn’t have to pretend), they were closer than most siblings. Seungmin would never want to take that for granted.

The corner of his bed creaked, and he turned to see that Eunjae had sat down. “What’s got Mr. Existentialist down in the dumps now?” Ey asked, teeth toying with eir lip ring as ey usually did when nervous.

Seungmin took a while to think. Eventually, he said, “There’s this guy” -Eunjae wiggled eir eyebrows- “shut up. There’s this guy who I didn’t really get along with at first, but now he seems really nice and doesn’t seem to hate me. It’s kind of freaking me out.” 

With a wave of eir hand, ey gestured for him to go on. Seungmin groaned. “I’m panicking because we’re taking a photo together and I’m scared I’m gonna get a crush on him. Happy?” He pressed his palms against his cheeks and took an intake of breath. Eunjae giggled, receiving a glare from him.

“I just think it’s funny…” Ey snorted as he leaned forward to punch em, “It’s funny that you’re making such a big deal out of this when it’s just one boy. Seungmin, you’re in college! If you want to have a crush on someone, do it! It’s not like it’s illegal!”  
  
Although ey had a point, Seungmin couldn’t get over it quite yet. “It just… feels weird, y’know?” Ey tilted their head. “Well, obviously you don’t know, but I haven’t had a crush since, like. Third grade.” Eunjae took his phone from his dresser. “What the fuck are you doing!”” He shouted at em.

Remaining unperturbed, ey entered his passcode (ey found it out and he’d never bothered to change it) and typed something in before handing it over to him. Seungmin looked at the screen a while before looking back up at em. “What’s this supposed to be?”  
  
“Just read it.” Ey said, deadly serious. Seungmin slowly nodded before zooming in on the webpage ey’d pulled up.

It was a wall of text, and although Seungmin was bored at first, he eventually found himself absorbed. Everything he’d experienced was written like it made sense. Like it wasn’t weird. He let a big smile take over his face as he looked back up at his sibling.

“This is great,” he whispered. The moment felt fragile, like if he spoke too loud, it would shatter. “So great.”

Eunjae patted his head. “Is that like you?” Ey asked, a side of eir mouth turned up. In Eunjae language, that was basically a full-out celebration.

“Yes.” Seungmin looked back down at the words. “Thank you so much.”

_Grey-romantic._

_A romantic attraction defined by experiencing romantic attraction very infrequently or ambiguously._

____

Unfortunately, just because Seungmin found out he hadn’t actually been broken his whole life like he had thought didn’t mean that he was exempt from bad things happening to him.

He’d somehow forgotten all about the meeting he’d scheduled with his friends two weeks prior.

They hadn’t had much time to hang out as of late, and when they did, they just didn’t feel like interacting with people. They were bone-tired, or busy stressing over a grade they could do nothing about. Upon admitting this to each other, and discovering they were struggling with the same thing, they had set up a meeting at the Stray Café. A stupid name if you asked Seungmin, but Hyunjin had said they had killer crêpes. Who could resist _cr_ _ê_ _pes_ ?

Certainly not Seungmin, which was why he was furiously pedalling his bike down the sidewalk like mad in order to not be late. The last thing he wanted was to be sent to the register to order himself. He’d probably say or do something stupid, and his friends would never let him live it down. Not with malicious intent- they just enjoyed making fun of Seungmin until he snapped. Okay, maybe with malicious intent.

Regardless, they were his friends, and they were going to pay for crêpes. What greater gift was there?

A few squares of the sidewalk ahead, Seungmin could see the café. Its bright sign hung from the awning, with “STRAY” in big, slanting letters. As he squinted, he could recognize the handwriting. “Typical,” he grunted to himself, walking over to lock up his bike. After wrapping the lock around the handlebars and clicking it shut, he went back to the front door.

As he swung it open, the muffled noise reached his ears. Soft pop music echoed off its walls, ones that were covered in paintings. He squinted a bit more and could make out landscapes, a painting of the front of the café, and someone _very_ familiar. Seo Changbin’s smiling face brightened up the wall, signed in cursive script in the corner of the canvas. Seungmin snorted and let the door fall shut behind him, bell tingling loudly.

“Seungmin!” Chan was leant over the counter, elbows perched on both sides of the register. “Haven’t seen you in forever!” Tinny pop music flared underneath his words, something about love or pretty girls dancing. It didn’t really fit the beige, fairy light-adorned aesthetic of the place, but it seemed like something Chan would like.  
  
“I forgot you worked here,” Seungmin replied, looking around for his friends. The seats were entirely empty, save for a mop bucket perched on a bar stool. _They’re not even here yet,_ he sighed to himself. _Of course they’d be later than me the one time I try to rush._

“How dare you forget about me, Minnie!” Chan cried, clutching his heart over his apron. “Betrayed, besotten by my own flesh and blood! My next akin!” He writhed on the countertop, eventually coming to a standstill and staring emptily up at the ceiling. The door of the kitchen swung open, revealing Changbin who gave Chan a firm pat on the back.

“I don’t think you know what that means, babe,” Changbin said, chuckling and raising his head. He smiled the very same smile on the wall, and Seungmin marveled at how things never changed. “Hey, Seungminnie! You forgot to visit us once we got old.”  
  
Seungmin smiled sadly. “Sorry, guys. On the bright side, the others are coming, too!” He knew they’d seen the others a few times more than him, but tried to ignore it. He’d been busy; busy and afraid. 

Chan had graduated the previous year- with a degree in something related to music producing. Meanwhile, Changbin had decided against college and had been working on his music along with a part-time job at a record shop, making enough money to keep his, Chan’s, and Jisung’s apartment. They and Jisung had formed a conjoined Soundcloud account two years previously, but that hadn’t yet given them enough money to make a living. Seungmin had been worried for them after Chan graduated, but it turned out the two were just fine. They bought the Stray Café with Changbin’s unspent college savings and got enough savings to live pretty comfortably.

Oh- all three of them were dating. They had been since Jisung attended his first year of college; Seungmin and his friends had been forced to listen to his rants about the cute boys for a week before they finally got together. Then they moved in together, and they all met Chan and Changbin, and the rest was history.

Changbin smiled at the news, and Chan giggled joyfully, looking worn out as usual but still bright. “That’s great! Have they been doing well?” Seungmin nodded. “I know finals are coming up, and they can be shitty. I’m rooting for you guys!” Chan lifted a fist and bumped it against Seungmin’s.

“Thanks,” Seungmin snorted. “I’ll be sure to tell the professors to look out for you if they fail me.”

“Seungmin! I can’t let him go to jail again!” Changbin complained, pouting and wrapping his arms around Chan’s shoulders. His cheeks squished up as they pressed into his clavicle, honey skin gleaming under the faint lights. Seungmin marveled at just how healthy people could get after school. Both of his hyungs were round, smiley, and energetic, especially compared to their homework-ridden counterparts from a year ago.

“Shut up, Binnie,” Chan’s cheeks were flushed pink. Seungmin rolled his eyes- _if I do get a crush on Minho, will I be this whipped?_ “ _Any_ who,” Chan decisively ignored the kissy faces Changbin was making at him, “do you want anything to eat and/or drink, Minnie?”

Seungmin stood on his toes to peer at the overhead menu. It had admittedly beautiful pictures of the items- but the use of Wordart was questionable. He’d bring it up later. “Changbin’s special and a crêpe, please.” He decided. Changbin sighed at the order.

“Hyung made that one,” he said, leant over the counter once again, “I was completely against it.” Chan blew him a kiss from where he had turned to fiddle with the knobs on the drink machines. Changbin hurried to dodge it, dropping to the floor.

Seungmin snorted at the sight. He had no doubt that Changbin had been against any form of attention, especially having to hear strangers say his name. It was a wonder how Chan had convinced him to let him put that painting of Changbin up, let alone name a menu item after him. Chan had probably made both things himself, though, and that alone had probably been mushy enough for his boyfriend to give in. _Are all us gays like this?_ Seungmin asked himself, watching the two bicker. 

Chan pushed Changbin away from him with his hip, and while the latter sputtered, gave Seungmin his drink. “Have a good day!” He said, half-habitually and half-jokingly. Seungmin raised an eyebrow but grabbed the cup, sliding it towards him before taking a tentative sip. 

It was good- not something he’d usually go for, but definitely not bad. Sweet, with just a little too much whipped cream and a hint of cinnamon. If he’d said that out loud, Chan would probably say it was ‘as dark as Changbin’s soul’. Seungmin looked at them over his lid. “It’s good,” he said, answering the question they implied with their wide-eyed stares.

Chan whooped. “Victory!” He wrung an arm around Changbin’s neck, who struggled to get away.

“Put it on the others’ tabs, they said they’d pay.” Seungmin said, smiling lightly as the two tried to kill one another. _Typical._

Changbin let his jaw drop wide. “Dear Seungmin, did you really think we’d charge you? I’m offended.” Seungmin shrugged, having seen that coming.

“Fine, fine.” He dismissed, not wanting to have to endure an argument about coffee, of all things.

Changbin nodded, satisfied. He tousled both their heads before going into the back, presumably to get him his food. Once he’d left, Chan turned to Seungmin. “Jisung is just upstairs, probably sleeping. Do you want me to call him?”

“Yes, please,” Seungmin replied, picking up his cup. It warmed his naturally cold hands, and he rubbed its sides to soothe himself. Chan slid his phone from his pocket and tapped something, putting it on the counter.

After a couple of seconds of ringing, a muffled yawn echoed from the speaker. “You woke me up,” Jisung complained, voice distorted by sleep and the phone’s ratty old speaker. Chan smiled fondly, albeit with a hint of exasperation. That was usually how people felt about Jisung- his inability to function was endearing, even to Seungmin.

“Hi, Jisungie,” Seungmin deadpanned, moving his hand to cup his cheek as he leaned further towards the phone. Another one of Jisung’s yawns turned into him choking on his saliva. Silence ensued, until the loud sound of shuffling rang out.

“I’ll be right there!” He shouted, and the call ended. Chan snorted and picked his phone back up.

“He’s a little absentminded,” Chan smiled apologetically at Seungmin, like he wasn’t deeply aware of that already. 

“What else is new?” Seungmin sighed, but giggled. Once again, it was hard to be mad at Jisung. Except when he and Felix connived against the rest of them, resulting in multiple _incidents._ Then it was remarkably easy.

“On the bright side, your food is here!” Changbin shouted, pushing the door to the kitchen open with his hip like a Southern waitress. He had Seungmin’s plate balanced in one hand, tips of his fingers available to fling the door back closed. At one point, Seungmin had seen him hold seven plates at once; he’d learned not to challenge his hyung in the art of serving.

“Thanks.” Seungmin took the plate from him and looked around at the empty seats. “Where are all your customers?”

Chan tilted his head questioningly. “We just closed a little while ago. Did you not see the sign?” Sure enough, when Seungmin turned back around, the “open” side was facing them. 

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” He bowed frantically- or as well as one could while sitting on a stool. As it turned out, that was... not too well.

Changbin shoved his shoulder back lightly. “It’s not your fault, Minnie, we hadn’t even started cleaning up. Blame the others, if anything.” He winked and pointed behind Seungmin.

When Seungmin turned, his friends were there, as he expected. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was for Hyunjin to be carrying Jeongin on his back, and Felix to be laughing at them from behind. It was a pretty typical thing of them to do, though, so Seungmin just sat back and watched. Hyunjin, hands wrapped around Jeongin’s thighs, somehow headbutted the door open and, once inside, dropped him unceremoniously on the floor.

“I lost a bet,” Hyunjin deadpanned at the sight of their confused faces. Jeongin had rolled onto his back and burst into giggles, promptly being joined by Felix. Chan and Seungmin looked on, part amused and part worried.

Hyunjin dragged Jeongin by his leg across the floor. Felix stumbled along and ran forward to hug Chan. Hyunjin jumped to join their embrace, tiredly wrapping his legs around their eldest. Meanwhile, Jeongin had flopped back down, spread-eagle on the floor panels. Seungmin nudged him with his foot.

“Innie, get off the floor, you don’t know where it’s been.” 

“Yes, I do, it’s been on the floor.” Jeongin retorted, rubbing his face against the tiles. Regardless, he ended up getting to his feet and catapulting himself into Seungmin’s arms. As he jabbed Jeongin in the sides and ignored his screaming, Seungmin wondered if the other had an aversion to standing like a normal person; he definitely wouldn’t have been surprised. 

He lugged the young man in his arms over to Hyunjin, Felix and Chan, who were spinning in place. “The whole gang’s here!” Chan cheered, setting the two back on the floor. “Or, it _will_ be here when Jisung hauls his ass out of bed.” He chuckled at his own quip. Jeongin, Felix and Hyunjin sighed like they had seen that coming.

Heavy footfalls grew closer on the stairs leading down to the cafe, and the door flew open. “I heard you were talking shit!” Jisung shouted, pointing at Chan accusingly. Changbin followed behind with a face of exasperated endearment. Jisung’s hair still stuck up in a combination of funky angles, his sideburns spanned across his cheeks, but no one had expected any less. They were very used to his lack of care for his image, alongside many other Jisung-ish quirks.

“No, forgive me, Jisungie!” Chan cried, rushing forward to kiss all over his face. Seungmin groaned and looked away. He just couldn’t understand how they could be so… _cute._

“ _Any_ ways!” Hyunjin interrupted, clapping his hands together. “Get me a fucking vanilla frap, stat! And Jeongin and Felix want americanos!”

“How do _you_ know what I want?” Jeongin asked skeptically. Hyunjin lifted up finger-guns and shot them at Jeongin, winking.

“You don’t have to be so blatantly bisexual,” Jisung deadpanned. Seungmin choked on his laughter at the scandalized expression on Hyunjin’s face.

Hyunjin glared and ran after Jisung, tackling him. _Again with the blatant disregard of germs._ Seungmin debated whether or not to intercept their tangle of limbs. Chan took a look at the chaos, giggled, and went over to the counter-presumably to get their drinks. 

“How’re things going?” Felix asked Seungmin, very used to their dynamic of constant screaming. Jeongin leaned over, intrigued.

“How do you mean?” Seungmin asked, narrowing his eyes. Felix blinked innocently at him, while Jeongin just snorted.

“With mister cute guy, of course!” Felix shouted, and Seungmin winced. From where he’d been watching them fondly, Changbin’s eyes widened. _Thank you for the life, God,_ Seungmin prayed. _Too bad it’s over now._

“You didn’t tell me you had a crush!” Changbin shrieked, spinning around to face Seungmin. The latter shrugged helplessly. He cast a quick “I’ll kill you later” look to Felix, who beamed.

Jeongin nodded sagely from his perch on Felix’s shoulder. “He told us about it the day before yesterday. They’re working on a photo project together.” Changbin wolf-whistled.

“His name’s Minho,” Felix provided, unperturbed by the way Seungmin was kicking him in the shins. 

Changbin’s face went through a lot of emotions. First back to shock, then to contemplation, then realization. His eyebrows shot up into his hanging bangs. Seungmin narrowed his eyes at him. “What?” He asked, suspicious.

Face falling back into a lazy grin, Changbin shrugged. “Nothing,” he said. Just as Seungmin was about to call him out for being a bitch-ass liar, he was distracted. 

“Shall we sit?” Hyunjin asked, a wide smile in place, having stood up with a defeated Jisung slung over his shoulders. Seungmin looked him over skeptically, but the others followed him to the bar stools without complaint. Seungmin carefully took his seat beside Jeongin, letting his hands come to rest on the counter.

“Who won?” Felix asked, flicking Jisung’s cheek where he was pouting pressed against the counter. Hyunjin scoffed and crossed his arms.

“I did! We have to update the spreadsheet,” he added the second part as an afterthought to Jeongin, who just nodded. Seungmin looked up at the ceiling, long-suffering.

“You have a spreadsheet of the outcomes of your fights?” Changbin asked, disbelieving. Judging from the way he was disturbed by that, Seungmin guessed he’d been out of touch from them for too long; he’d lost his desensitivity to their antics.

“Yes,” Hyunjin answered simply. Changbin shrugged, like he accepted that answer. 

Chan turned back to them with a flourish, two cups in his hands. “Order up!” He shouted, acting as if he was going to chuck the drinks at them. Jisung flinched and nearly fell off his stool, which made the rest of them cackle.

Bright red, Jisung grabbed the drinks from Chan’s hands and passed them to Hyunjin, Felix and Jeongin. “Don’t laugh at me!” He shrieked, as the rest of them ignored him. 

Felix rubbed his hands against the sides of his cup. “You’re quite the character, Sungie.”

“He is, isn’t he?”

The voice came from behind them- Seungmin craned his neck around so fast he felt his muscles protesting.

“Minho?”

**Author's Note:**

> soo,, happy seungfest!! thank u sm for this opportunity, i've never written a seungmin-centric before and i feel like the 2min dynamic is very underrated. please look forward to chapter two, in which i struggle to write even one thousand words!
> 
> the nonbinary character is based off myself a lil and yes ey use neopronouns u are all valid ilyvm.


End file.
